To Win or Fail: The Game of Darkness
by Forgotten
Summary: Give me ideas! For GoldenShadow: a Veegato! (Daikari or Takari?)! Veemon and Gatomon are lost, alone, in the Digital World facing a phenomena and a powerful foe...will they work together, or end up destroying each other? R&R!


IAK: Man…seems like every day I'm laying on the VeeGato because of requests from somebody _ But that dun matter! This is a request from GoldenShadow for a little VeeGato ficcy of some sort. GoldenShadow, here it is! I still dunno how many chapters it's going to be, though. Give me ideas in your reviews and I might extend it! Also, if you want and haven't already, you can check out some of my other works: The Missing Piece of Light; One Fallen Angel and The Thin Line. More to come. Yes….this all came from the pits of my mind! MUHAHAHA! -_-;  
  
  
  
To Win or Fail: The Game of Darkness  
  
  
  
It wasn't going well.  
  
Dust was still billowing into the sky in columns of smoke. The air itself crackled with intense heat and energy.  
  
Gatomon gradually began to awake. Numbly she moved her claw, then her tail. S-l-o-w-l-y she raised her head up. Her vision was out-of-focus, and it felt like some giant was squeezing her head. The first thing she really noticed was that she wasn't Angewomon anymore, and the second thing she noticed was that she was beaten up pretty bad. She managed to get her arms beneath her, and she pushed herself over onto her back. Stars exploded in her eyes and a nauseated feeling rose in her stomach as she tried to remember what had happened.  
  
Oh yeah.  
  
She, the rest of the Digidestined and their Digimon had been 'patrolling' the Digital World, as Izzy had picked up some abnormal readings tracing back into its depths. He hadn't been sure whether it was a false alarm, trap, or some kind of natural phenomena…  
  
---Earlier…---  
  
…"I'm just saying I picked up some abnormal readings. It's nothing perfect or even clear. I'm not sure what it is, a trap or lure of some kind, a natural happening or something else. I just wanted to bring it to your attention." Izzy turned in the computer chair, watching the rest of the Digidestined's reaction. He was curious to how they would react to this bit of news…  
  
"Are you sure about this, Izzy?" T.K. asked.  
  
"WHAT?!?!" Whatever Izzy had expected, it wasn't doubt. "Sure I'm sure! When have I not been sure? I'm sure. As sure as Mrs. Kamiya's special drinks make you go to the bathroom!"  
  
"That's sure," Tai agreed from his top bunk. Davis, Izzy, Tai, Kari, Ken, Yolie, Cody and all their Digimon were gathered in Tai and Kari's room. Tai was stretched out on his stomach on his bed, Agumon beside him, Kari was sitting on her bed with T.K. on one side and Davis on the other. Yolie was leaning against the desk Izzy was at, Cody was sitting cross- legged on the floor, and Ken was standing by the wall. All their Digimon were sitting on the dresser or on the floor near it.  
  
"That still makes me laugh, thinking about you and Mom's goodies…" Kari stifled a giggle.  
  
"It's not fun when you have to go in the bathroom after him, I bet," Yolie commented.  
  
"Hey! This isn't about me, as you might not have noticed!" Izzy grumped.  
  
"What's your best guess about these waves, or 'echoes' as you call them, generating from the Digital World?" asked Ken, on task as usual. He was as curious about these as Izzy was.  
  
"I'm not sure…they seem natural somehow, but I've never seen them before. It's hard to explain," Izzy replied.  
  
"Natural…you think it could be a Digimon causing these?" Gatomon asked from atop the dresser.  
  
"I'm not sure how, but it might. They're not clear, as I've stated, just sort of there and coming in vaguely. Like bits of data in a wave rolling out from the Digital World particles, some sort of invading data maybe," Izzy said thoughtfully.  
  
"You lost me there," Davis said, "But whatever it is we have to go to the Digital World to check it out, right?"  
  
"Davis is right," T.K. said. "We'll have to go there."  
  
"Whoa! Did T.A. just say I was right?"  
  
"I'm not T.-"  
  
"Right! It would be best if I stayed here and monitored these waves. The rest of you can go in. If the data becomes very unstable, I'll have to call you back," Izzy said.  
  
"Where would we go?" Patamon ventured.  
  
"I'll see if I can get the port to take you nearest to the instability. When I was checking on it earlier, it seemed like it was near some mountains of come sort."  
  
"What do we do when we find this data stuff?" Tai asked.  
  
"Gah! It's not data STUFF! It's merely shards of data whose functions have just-"  
  
"Izzy, we understand you're smarter than us. Just answer the dude's question in a language we can understand," Davis butted in. Izzy rubbed his head sheepishly and a sweat drop rolled down his cheek.  
  
"I'm not sure. I'm still working on that. But if these echoes or something continues, it could begin to damage the Digital World data fields. So when you find anything abnormal, contact me. And remember, if something goes wrong, I'll pull you back…"  
  
"Don't worry, nothing's going to go wrong," said Chibimon…  
  
---Present…---  
  
"What a laugh…"  
  
Even the sound of her own voice sounded strange to Gatomon. It was forced and whispery. Trying to pull herself up to her feet again, she desperately tried to remember what had happened. They had gone into the Digital World to search for this phenomenon of sorts, and something had happened….  
  
"Gatomon!"  
  
Gatomon's whole body tensed as the voice came nearer. It sounded familiar, but in her state she couldn't be sure.  
  
"Who's there?!" she managed to say.  
  
"It's me, Veemon!" Even though his leg was injured, Veemon made his way to Gatomon. He had seen her just a few moments ago, struggling to get up. He himself was worn and torn, but not quite as bad as she was. Gatomon relaxed upon seeing Veemon.  
  
"What happened?" Gatomon asked as Veemon took her arm gently and helped her up. She swooned a little but then stood straight. She blinked a few times to clear her vision.  
  
"Attacked." Veemon glanced around as if expecting someone was listening in. He looked back to Gatomon. "By some sort of Digimon. We were separated from the others because after a while we were the only ones left in our Digivolutions."  
  
"Not any more," Gatomon retorted. She was angry she had obviously been beaten.  
  
"Are you okay?" Veemon asked. "We were both in a pretty bad mess. That Digimon was really strong, if it was a Digimon at all…I don't remember much of the fight though."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine…we've got to find Kari and the others!" Gatomon was feeling a bit frantic now. She had never been separated from her Digidestined for long before. What if they were in trouble? What if they hadn't beaten that Digimon?  
  
"Believe me, I've been working on it. The only thing I've found so far is you…"  
  
Which isn't that bad, Veemon mentally added. He then blinked and silently scolded himself for thinking of romantic stuff at a time like this.  
  
"Where do you think they would go?" asked Gatomon, keeping her voice level.  
  
"If they wanted cover…" Veemon went silent a moment. "They'd probably stick close to the mountains, rather than get caught out in the open. Or Izzy might have already pulled them back to the Real World by now."  
  
"You think…they would abandon us?" Gatomon asked.  
  
"No!" Veemon was surprised at the sound of stubbornness in his voice. "No way. We'll find them."  
  
"Or vice versa…" Gatomon sighed, feeling fatigue wash over her. "We'd better start…looking…"  
  
Veemon shook his head and scooped Gatomon up into his arms. She blinked rapidly, surprised. "What are you doing?" she asked.  
  
"We can't go anywhere until we're healed," Veemon responded. He looked around, then spotted a small crevice in the mountainside. Cautiously he inched toward it, straining all his senses on it. He wasn't sure if it was occupied or not, though it was cleverly hidden. Gatomon tightened her grip on Veemon, almost expecting something to jump out at them.  
  
Nothing did. After a few more minutes of confirming this, Veemon ventured inside. His leg was burning with sharp, stinging pains, and he needed to rest. He walked a few feet into it, scanning it over. It opened into a small cave of sorts, but wasn't very big. It ended just a few yards away, the walls damp and glimmering with moisture. Veemon gently set Gatomon down against the wall, then plopped down beside her, exhausted.  
  
"How long do you think we're going to stay here?" Gatomon whispered to him.  
  
"Until we can travel better," Veemon replied steadily. He remained still for a few moments until he could hear the ragged, deep breathing of Gatomon when she fell asleep. He rearranged himself multiple times hoping to get comfortable, but to no avail. He tried to keep his eyes open, in case something happened, but sleep tugged at them mercilessly. He didn't want to fall asleep and leave he and Gatomon vulnerable, but in spite of trying he soon drifted off, snug against the side of the cave.  
  
************************  
  
"Veemon?"  
  
Veemon mumbled, turning over. A sharp pain raced up his leg, and he woke with a start. Gatomon was leaning over him, watching him worriedly.  
  
"Good…I just wanted to make sure you were still with me," she sighed, relieved. Veemon gave her a shaky smile.  
  
"I'm still here," he said. He sat up and stretched his arms, then looked to her. "You feeling better?"  
  
"Honestly? I still feel like I've been run over by a cat food truck. But I don't hurt as bad as I did yesterday." She gave him a shaky smile back. "How's your leg?"  
  
"It doesn't hurt," he lied. Gatomon narrowed her eyes.  
  
"Sure," she said. "What if I did this?" She gave his leg a soft poke.  
  
"OW!" Veemon whimpered. He shot her a look. "Now that was uncalled for."  
  
"Doesn't hurt, does it?" Gatomon stated sarcastically.  
  
"Well, it didn't," Veemon retorted sharply. Gatomon looked a little hurt, and Veemon felt like punching himself. "Sorry. I'm not a morning person."  
  
"It's not exactly morning, it's afternoon," said Gatomon, still looking a little hurt.  
  
"Wow. I guess we were knocked out…" Veemon slowly stood, surveying the outside of the cave. It looked peaceful enough, no sign of any Digimon anywhere.  
  
Nor Digidestined.  
  
"They must be looking for us now." Veemon jumped a little at Gatomon's close voice, and she appeared standing beside him.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"They'll find us. They won't stop looking until they do."  
  
"You're right."  
  
************************  
  
That night, Veemon gathered some wood from some trees near the edge of the woods. He brought the stack back, setting it on the ground near the entrance of the cave. Gatomon watched him and shivered some at the chilly mountain air blowing down on them. Veemon paused then stood, studying the wood.  
  
"Well?" Gatomon asked.  
  
"The times you need Agumon…" Veemon murmured.  
  
"Are you saying you can't start a fire?" Gatomon voice was monotone. They NEEDED a fire…the mountain air was only getting colder as the night progressed, and besides, if there was a fire, and it lasted until day, wouldn't someone, the Digidestines, smell or see the smoke and know where to look for them?  
  
"Exactly." Veemon frowned. "I may be fire elemental but I can't breath fire like Agumon."  
  
Gatomon sighed, then tilted her head. "Do you think you could Digivolve into Flamedramon or something?"  
  
"I don't know…" Veemon's stomach growled, and he made a face. "I think I'm too hungry for that."  
  
"The times you need Agumon and a bag of marshmallows…" Gatomon murmured. "Wait. Wasn't there some fruit on some of those trees you saw a few minutes ago, when you were getting the wood?"  
  
"Well, yeah, but I don't know if its safe or not." Veemon's stomach growled again, as if in protest.  
  
"Is it worth a try?" Gatomon got up from sitting on the ground and looked over in the direction she was talking about. "It's either freeze AND starve, or be warm and possibly die later on a full stomach."  
  
"Hmmm…not much of a choice, huh?" Veemon sent his kawaii grin at Gatomon and she grinned back. He admired her willingness to try something new and possibly dangerous. She always was a bit of a wild card.  
  
"Well?" Gatomon asked, narrowing her eyes playfully at him. Even though she knew this could be life or death, never did she want to show her weak side. Gatomon was the one without the weaknesses, the one who was always up for something; the fearless one.  
  
"Let's do it!" Veemon hobbled along as fast as he could on his injured leg, as the wind picked up a little speed and got a chillier. Gatomon pounced along behind him on all fours, until they reached the trees Veemon had seen earlier. It was already getting dark and harder to see. Gatomon didn't have a problem, with her cat eyes, but Veemon practically ran into the tree before he saw it. Gatomon skidded to a stop behind him a stood, looking up.  
  
"I'll get it," she proposed.  
  
"Why should you get it?" asked Veemon.  
  
"I'm a cat. I climb trees. And besides, my vision is better than yours right now."  
  
"Ah. But…"  
  
Gatomon smiled some, shaking her head. She then tweaked Veemon's ear, built up her leg muscles and pounced easily up into a branch of the tree, landing gracefully. Her muscles were stiff but she managed. Gatomon looked down at Veemon, a feline grin on her face. "Don't be afraid to let the lady do something once in a while, too."  
  
Veemon scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Heh." Gatomon continued her path up the tree until she reached the branches at the top, where the fruit was most plentiful.  
  
"I'm going to need some help," she called down. "Think you can catch some flying fruit?"  
  
"Yeah!" Veemon called up. A split second later a large fruit whizzed through the air and Veemon leaped up and grabbed it. "Hey! Warn me next time!" He could hear Gatomon giggle from the branches.  
  
"Okay!" Two more fruits whizzed through the air like yellowish miniature missiles and Veemon caught, or more so got hit with, them. This continued a few more minutes until Veemon managed to squeak, "Enough!"  
  
Gatomon scaled down the tree, landing neatly on the ground. She studied Veemon, who could barely be seen under his heavy load. "Very attractive."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Veemon said dryly. "Mind leading me back? I can't exactly see…" He teetered on a leg then regained his balance. "Heh-eh."  
  
"Okay…um…walk forward, keep walking until I tell you to stop…" Gatomon said as she inched along in front of him.  
  
"OW!" yelped Veemon as a rock jabbed his foot.  
  
"Whoops, didn't see that," coughed Gatomon.  
  
Thus the two finally made their way back, where Veemon more than gratefully deposited the fruit all over the ground.  
  
"It's yellow," he commented.  
  
"Yeah," Gatomon said. "So?"  
  
"But…it's YELLOW."  
  
"Bananas are yellow."  
  
"Ah…okay!" With great ferocity Veemon then attacked the fruit while Gatomon stood by, staring. After a moment he sat back and patted his stomach, a sheepish grin on his face. "Not bananas but still pretty good." Gatomon made a face, then looked to the one small fruit left.  
  
"Oh, thanks," she said sarcastically. She grew puzzled as Veemon's grin grew. "What? You think it's funny?"  
  
Veemon shook his head and pulled out three more fruits from behind his back. "Just couldn't help myself…" Gatomon rolled her eyes but smiled anyway, taking them from him. After a minute she ventured to ask, "Think you could Digivolve now?"  
  
Veemon stood. "Let's see!" He stanced, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Veemon, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOO…"  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"I think my Digivolver may be broken," Veemon pouted.  
  
"Try harder!" Gatomon urged.  
  
"Okay…" Veemon clenched his fists, his eyes narrowed even more in a deep concentration. "Veemon, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TOO…!" The familiar golden-red flame erupted from the ground, consuming him in a fiery blaze. Gatomon watched in anticipation. She never could quite get over the coolness of Veemon armor Digivolving, though she would probably never admit it. Seconds later, the familiar booming voice behind the blaze echoed, "FLAMEDRAMON! The Fire of Courage!" The blaze died down, revealing Flamedramon standing like an orange beacon in the night.  
  
"I wonder why I couldn't do it the first time," Flamedramon wondered aloud.  
  
"You think…it could have had anything to do with those Echoes Izzy was telling us about?" Gatomon asked.  
  
"That could be it." Flamedramon then turned toward the pile of sticks and held up his massive clawed hand. "FIRE ROCKET!!" A ball of flame erupted from his hand, slicing through the air and smacking into the sticks, igniting them in a fury of fire. Seconds later a good fire was going and Gatomon sighed in relief as the cold air was chased off.  
  
"If that Digimon or whatever is still around, maybe I should stay…" With that Flamedramon glowed softly and shrank, seconds later only Veemon was left standing. "…Nevermind?"  
  
"Did you De-Digivolve on your own?" Gatomon asked worriedly.  
  
"No…" Veemon glanced over to her and could see her troubled expression. "Oh, yeah I did," he quickly added. He winced some; he wasn't used to lying.  
  
"You sure?" Gatomon persisted.  
  
"Yeah. I figured I should conserve energy." With that Veemon sidled over to the fire, sitting next to Gatomon. "After all, I wouldn't want to go through the whole 'Have to get more fruit and be led back while stepping on very painful rocks' thing again."  
  
"Hey!" Gatomon laughed. "My leading wasn't that bad."  
  
They were silent for a minute as both of them gazed into the flame.  
  
"I miss him," Veemon said softly.  
  
Gatomon shifted her weight. "…Yeah."  
  
"Do you miss Kari?"  
  
"Of course!" Veemon jumped a little at her voice.  
  
"You…just never say anything," he said meekly.  
  
Gatomon sighed, resting her head in her paw. "I…I'm not supposed to."  
  
Veemon gave her a puzzled look. "What?"  
  
"I'm supposed to be the brave one," Gatomon sighed, letting the words pour from her mouth. "I'm supposed to be the experienced warrior, the natural fighter, the one who knows what to do, how to do it, and is not supposed to care much about the consequences. Other people…Digimon…look up to me for that."  
  
Veemon took all this in. "Gatomon, it's okay to admit you're scared once in a while."  
  
Gatomon turned to face Veemon, her eyes sad. "Okay. I'm scared, Veemon, and confused. I just want to be safe again. I want life to go back to normal again."  
  
Veemon looked back into her eyes, her words in his head. She looked so weary, like she had been carrying a heavy burden by herself for a long time. Before he even knew what he was doing his lips were on hers and he had her in a tight embrace.  
  
BY KAMI, what am I doing, I'm kissing Gatomon!! he thought frantically. But he didn't pull away. He had been wanting this for so long, and even if he was going to get beat up afterwards it was worth it.  
  
After a moment he loosened his grip and let her go, sidling backwards, his entire face beet red. "Uh, G-Gatomon, I c-c-can explain," he stammered.  
  
Gatomon sat there like a stone, her eyes wide in shock. "I…"  
  
They sat there, staring at each other for a few minutes.  
  
"…We'd better get back inside…" Veemon said after a moment, as the fire began to die down.  
  
"Yeah…" Gatomon agreed. Getting up they both made their way back to the cave.  
  
************************  
  
---Meanwhile---  
  
  
  
Kari stared, motionless and frigid, at the computer screen. Tai appeared beside her, half of his face masked by the shadows of the room.  
  
"Kari, it's late."  
  
"I should go back there," Kari said stubbornly. She turned and looked to Tai. "You would if it was Agumon!"  
  
Tai rubbed his head. "Well, I'm not exactly the best role model."  
  
Kari looked back to the screen, the dim light of the Digital Gate beeping in the dark. "…She's all right, right? Him too?"  
  
"Of course," Tai soothed. "They're tough. We'll try searching for them again tomorrow, it's late now."  
  
"You think it was a coincidence that the gate wouldn't drop us near the spot where we left them last?" Kari asked worriedly. "Do you think it was planed?"  
  
"Izzy said it was because of the data imbalance that the portal wouldn't work near there. Every day we get closer. You've got to have strength." Tai found and squeezed Kari's hand in the dark. She smiled sadly.  
  
"I just can't get those pictures out of my head. Of that Digimon, or whatever it was…how it defeated us with ease. How it pushed us back to our world without Gatomon and Veemon…" She lowered her eyes, fighting tears. "I don't want to lose her, Tai!"  
  
---Flashback---  
  
"Hold back some! We don't know what this thing is yet!"  
  
Izzy's voice bounced off Kari's ears. Her eyes were widened with fright as she watched the Digidestine's Digimon attack mercilessly at the large being looming in front of them. It was extremely large, solid black with gold stripes running down its sides, face, and four legs. Two leathery gray wings protruded from its back, blocking the sun from hitting the ground around it. A long, whippy tail with spikes at the end whisked behind it, and its gigantic claws dug into the soil. Two completely white eyes bore down on the attacking Digimon with such malice Kari choked back words to describe it. Three horns stuck out from its forehead, cream colored, with dagger-like ends. It bore its teeth, long and glinting white in the sun, saliva dripping from the jaws and burning the earth it landed on. It had an elongated neck, and muscles gleamed under its thick hide. Thick fur surrounded its neck, some sort of protection. There was an extra claw on its right front foot, longer than the rest and red colored. It swung its head around, glaring ragingly at Halsemon, who was trying, and failing, to penetrate the thick hide.  
  
"It's a monster," Kari breathed to the air. Angewomon rose into the air, trying to get a good shot with her arrows, bruised and beaten. The Digimon didn't even seem to acknowledge the attacks.  
  
"KOHENKYOKAMADAITCHI!!"  
  
The Digimon's voice boomed like thunder, tearing apart the very atoms of the air in its ferocity. Kari barely had time to scream as she felt the very data bits that made her up split and break apart, the sounds of the others screaming ringing in her ears…  
  
---End Flashback---  
  
"It was a monster," Kari said softly. She didn't expect Tai to hear, but he nodded and squeezed her hand tighter. "It was," he said. "It was. Let's sleep now. We won't be able to do anything if we're half dead tomorrow."  
  
Kari nodded meekly, tearing her gaze away from the dimly beeping light on her computer screen. 


End file.
